NBA 2018-19: James Harden’s historic run continues

Last season, the Houston Rockets came close to going to the NBA finals, and the dominant factor during their run was the MVP season that James Harden had. This season, Houston tried their luck by adding another star to the pair of Chris Paul and Harden.

The Carmelo Anthony experiment was given a go by the general manager Daryl Morey. However, this experiment failed, and they finally moved on from him after trading him to the Chicago Bulls.

Harden scored 61 points at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks

Since the start of the season, everyone has been talking about the stacked up Western Conference. With the three superstars in the lineup, Houston did not start the season as they had intended. CP3 was once again lost to injury, and Carmelo looked out of touch for Mike D’Antoni’s offence. It all indicated towards yet another season of downfall after a successful one for the Rockets.

Over the years, that has been the trend for the Harden-led Rockets. After a successful year, his performance has always dropped, and that has led to the downfall of the team.

Somehow, this season that hasn’t been the case. When the Rockets lost Paul due to an injury, Harden has stepped up his game. He has displayed the role of leadership, and one might argue that The Beard is one of the most ball-dominant players in the NBA, and that doesn’t make what he is doing this season any easy feat.

Harden is leading the league in scoring for the second year in a row

Over the last two months, Harden has been on a fantastic, and historical scoring streak. He surpassed Kobe Bryant for most number of consecutive games with 30+ points and is currently on a streak of 21 games with 30+ points scored.

Harden is creating his own history and is on course to have yet another MVP season. The way he is playing with CP3 out of the line-up is setting an example for the team.

The reigning MVP is averaging a career-high 36.3 points per game, 6.6 rebounds, and 8.3 assists on 44 percent shooting from the field and 86 percent from the free-throw line. The shooting guard has scored 261 points in his last five games (52.2 points per game).

During his streak, the Rockets have a 15-6 record. Houston's record overall is 27-20, the fifth best in the Western Conference.

It will be exciting to see how Harden and Houston perform when they are at full strength of their roster. Will they be able to dethrone the champions Golden State Warriors? Will they be able to overcome the monster that LeBron James is in the postseason? The answerS to all this will come in due time. But till then sit back and enjoy history in the making.